This invention relates generally to electric skillet and the like cooking vessels and more particularly to such cooking vessels including a removably attachable handle assembly.
Prior art electric skillet or the like cooking vessels conventionally include a pan to which an insulative handle for lifting the pan is permanently attached. In some cases, a temperature control assembly is included in the handle and in other cases, the temperature control assembly is provided in a separate probe member removably connectable to the pan through a male-female plug arrangement. In the case of the removable probe member, a spring loaded "shoe" coupled to the thermostat of the temperature control assembly, is sometimes employed to sense the temperature of the pan. The spring loaded "shoe" engages a wall of the pan upon coupling the probe member thereto. Examples of cooking vessels of the last-mentioned type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,030,487; 3,025,384; and 2,834,868.
None of the above-mentioned prior art patents shows a cooking vessel including a handle that is removably attachable to the pan and which also includes a temperature control arrangement having a temperature sensing "shoe".
Other non-electric skillets and cooking vessels do include handles which are removably secured to the pan thereof. Often, however, the mechanism by which the handle is attached to the pan is complex in design and does not lend itself to easy and quick removal and attachment, which is required in the case of a handle employed on an electric skillet including a temperature control assembly since it is desirable that the latter not be exposed to water during cleaning and the like.